Profit fell more than 50% at France's biggest bank

French
striking taxi drivers block the traffic as they demonstrate at
Porte Maillot in Paris during a national protest about
competition from private car ride firms like Uber, France,
January 26, 2016.REUTERS/Charles
Platiau

Income fell to €665 million (£511 million) from more than €1
billion a year earlier.

The bank had to write-down the value of assets at BNL its Italian
unit and took a hit in its investment banking division as
costs increased.

Like almost all the other big European bank, BNP Paribas is
restructuring, and is planning to save up to a billion euros by
scaling back its investment bank and boosting its wealth
management divisions.

Tough rules on how banks must plan for losses on their assets,
combined with anemic global growth and low interest rates have
made traditional investment banking business models non-viable.